


Eyes Ahead

by Linara



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Tumblr: jaegercon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/922222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linara/pseuds/Linara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He thinks that perhaps this is how she would've looked in a time before the war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the jaegercon bingo square "Religion". Fun fact, Sasha and Aleksis died on January 8th, 2025. Also, the Russian Orthodox and Old Calendar churches follow the Julian calendar, and Christmas is on the 7th according to it.

January 7th, 2025

Aleksis marvels at how Sasha looks out of her armor. Encased in thick metal, she is a magnificent warrior. In the long blue dress and headscarf she is something completely different. Just as dangerously beautiful, but less hard. He thinks that perhaps this is how she would've looked in a time before the war.

"Eyes ahead, Kaidonovsky," she hisses, and he remembers that yes, they're in church, and there are other thoughts that should be in his head.

It was Sasha's idea to go, she'd seen the date and her face had lit up for a few glorious seconds. She'd asked around for the addresses of churches that hadn't been reduced to rubble, and there had been two. Neither had services in Russian, but the one they stood in now had a service in English, and that was good enough for her.

"I loved Christmas when I was a child," she'd said, when Aleksis had asked why they were setting foot in a church for the first time since they'd come to Hong Kong. "I had an American cousin who lived with us for a few years, and he always made such a big deal out of it. Christmas and Pascha, the two most important days of the year, he'd say. We'd dress up in our best clothes, and then wear big, bulky coats over that and we'd walk to the church. It was so beautiful, early in the morning."

The church they're in now is not what Aleksis would call beautiful. It's tiny, overflowing with grimy bodies and grimier clothes. A few small children wriggle through gaps in the crowd, parents having given up on keeping them in one place long ago.

The hymns are still as beautiful as he remembers, even if some of the multitude of voices can't reach the highest notes and aim for somewhere close by. Sasha listens, hums to some of them. It's the same melodies she used to sing, the same meaning behind words that she doesn't quite know. 

Aleksis, so used to his company of two, just him and Sasha wherever they might go, doesn't quite understand Sasha's ease in this mass of humanity. Doesn't understand her ease with this church, so different from the ones they once went to. 

"I can hear you thinking," she says out of the corner of her mouth, eyes still ahead. He huffs out a sigh and her mouth quirks. She presses a hand against his, cool skin a brief respite in the hot room.

"Sorry," he whispers, and when the next hymn starts, he hums the melody with her.


End file.
